The present invention relates to a water removal device for a water jet loom.
A cloth is wet when woven by a water jet loom. Thus, water needs to be removed from the cloth. For this reason, a water jet loom includes a water removal device to remove water from the cloth. The water removal device of a water jet loom includes a suction member that removes water from a cloth in a cloth route between the cloth fell and a surface roller. The suction member includes a slit. A blower is connected to the suction member. When the blower is operated, a suction flow is produced at the slit of the suction member. Then, the surface roller is rotated to pull the cloth toward the surface roller. As the cloth moves above the slit of the suction member, the suction member draws in water from the wet cloth.
However, when the cloth has a high weaving density, water flows along the upper surface of the cloth toward the surface roller. This makes it difficult for the suction member to draw in water from the cloth and lowers the efficiency for removing water from the cloth.
Accordingly, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-42255 describes a structure that impedes the flow of water on the upper surface of a cloth toward the surface roller. The water removal device of the water jet loom described in the publication includes a guide bar. The guide bar is located between the cloth fell and a main suction tube (suction member) and extends to a position that is higher than a horizontal plane (warp line) lying along a direction extending through the cloth fell of a cloth and the uppermost portion of a main suction tube. The guide bar supports the cloth from a lower side. Thus, the cloth route between the cloth fell and the main suction tube is peak-shaped as viewed from a weaving widthwise direction of the cloth. The peak-shaped cloth route decreases the amount of water on the upper surface of the cloth that flows toward the main suction tube, that is, toward the surface roller.
However, in the water removal device of the water jet loom described in the above publication, the cloth route is peak-shaped. Thus, when the water on the upper surface of the cloth in the portion of the cloth route ascending toward the peak moves beyond the peak of the cloth route, the water may flow down the portion of the cloth route descending from the peak toward the main suction tube. This would lower the water removal efficiency.